


Grey Eyes

by CadetDru



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Co-workers, Enemies to Friends, First Impressions, Friends to Lovers, Future Relationships, Gen, M/M, Past Relationship(s), grey eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:42:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28167939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetDru/pseuds/CadetDru
Summary: "More of a rain cloud kind of grey than a steel grey.  Like, the grey of dust and cobwebs and old abandoned things.  That's the kind of grey in his eyes."
Relationships: Georgie Barker & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Georgie Barker & Martin Blackwood, Georgie Barker & Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Grey Eyes

Georgie didn't normally meet with podcast fans one on one.This one was different. He'd contacted her through her official channels. He was following up on spooky occurrences. It was rare for someone to actually admit to being from the Magnus Institute.

Georgie knew that Melanie had gone to the Magnus Institute, that she'd met with Jonathan Sims the head archivist. Melanie hasn't enjoyed the meeting, this man was an assistant of some kind, doing research in Jon's behalf, running interference between Jon and the world. Georgie appreciated that someone was filling that role.

He beat her to the cafe. She was to look for the man with the ridiculous amount of notes. That was easy enough to spot. He had a portfolio and a satchel. Folders of loose papers, flagged with sticky notes.He primarily wanted to talk to her about Sarah Baldwin and Melanie King. He'd come up with other questions about what seemed to be random episodes. 

He looked completely trustworthy: large but not scary, curly hair and light eyes. He seemed very relaxed.

"Martin?" she said. He nodded and she sat down.

The conversation progressed simply and easily. He radiated confidence and competence, taking notes on the appropriate file folder. Georgie was just one of a list of people that he was going to be meeting with. Melanie should have met with him instead of Jon, it would have gone a lot better.

* * *

Jon was in a bad place, which somehow had become being et Georgie's place. He had added “pining after someone called Martin that he kept mentioning” to the list of new but familiarly irritating and cryptic behaviors. Jon talked about Martin’s tea and filing, about his sandwiches and poetry.

Apparently Martin had been feeding him since about the first day Jon had the archivist job. Apparently Martin did things just the wrong way, but meant well.Apparently Martin had been everywhere and was now gone.

Georgie would rather hear about Melanie.She left Jon to his pining and his everything else to get drinks with Melanie. 

“Things going well at the new job?” Georgie asked Melanie over a quiet drink.

“Not really,” Melanie said. “Everyone there is just sullen, all of the time.”

Georgie made the appropriate sound of commiseration.Melanie was working at the Magnus Institute, where Jon had his mysterious “workplace dispute” that was so far-reaching.

“There's one who seems to just...hate everything. Hate me," Melanie said. She underlined each "hate" by stabbing her index finger onto the tabletop. "Hate change. Hate everything. Just...this absolutely bitter man. He just...exists in this negative space. He makes his little cups of tea and snarls at everyone. He keeps muttering about how many dead bodies he's had to find on-site.”

"How many?" Georgie asked.

"At least two confirmed dead. It sounds like there were possibly more? Like, one was recent and one was a while ago and in between there was some kind of activity? He's not the best storyteller.He honestly could have a lot to tell me about if he would just get it together. But I'm not the right sort of person."

“Any ghosts, then?” Georgie said. It could be a potential episode.

"Besides him? None. That's the other thing!” Melanie said, slapping the table with the flat of her hand. “He's never seen any ghosts there, despite finding corpses on the premises. What is the point of finding a corpse if the ghost isn’t there with their unfinished business?”

“That's weird,” Georgie said.

“He has this whole long theory about it being the exact opposite of a sacred space,” Melanie said. “Not cursed, exactly, but more like forsaken? He's been warning me about it but he doesn't know what to do to prevent my becoming another corpse. I don't think he cares, he just wants to tell someone his theories and have them listen. I understand the idea behind it, but he's just so awful about it, all of the time.I think that he thinks he’s taken me under his wing.”

“Old timer?” Georgie said.

“Oh, no, he's young,” Melanie said. “Martin’s just playing at being a crotchety old man. Probably died on the spot fifty years ago and that's why he acts like he's an octogenarian.”

There was that name again.Georgie froze. The idea of an older gentlemen with a bowtie was falling away. The ghost of the confident young man that she had met flared up briefly, burning away to be replaced with the younger man that served Jon perfect cups of tea. There were too many Martins associated with the Institute. “What does he look like?” She said quickly.

Melanie shrugged. “Why do you care?”

“I’m getting swept in by the spookiness,” Georgie said. He wasn't fitting into her mental boxes. 

Melanie frowned, considered. “I mean, he's not great-looking, not as bookish as he should be either. He has a certain teddy bear quality. Big guy. Curly hair. Grey eyes." Melanie frowned, even glared a little. "More of a rain cloud kind of grey than a steel grey.Like, the grey of dust and cobwebs and old abandoned things.That's the kind of grey in his eyes."

Georgie didn't comment on the types of grey that Melanie had reviewed. The amount of time it would take to maintain eye contact just to determine that.Georgie had been picturing a man in at least his late forties who would look past Melanie if he looked in her direction.

"This isn't an enemies to lovers situation," Melanie said. "This is an irritating colleague to annoying coworker situation.He's worse than Jonathan Sims."

“Martin sounds almost sweet," Georgie said, not take the bait on Jon.

“I don’t think I’m exactly his type," Melanie said.

“You’re everyone’s type,” Georgie said with a smile.

Melanie grinned in return. “He's carrying a torch for someone else, from what I can tell. It's one of his few human characteristics.He might actually care for someone else in a genuine way!"

The conversation drifted,to their own romantic failures.All talk of the unsuitable Martin stopped.The idea of cloudy grey eyes stayed with Georgie.

When Georgie got home, Jon and the Admiral were watching a nature documentary."How's Melanie?" Jon said by way of greeting.

"Fine," Georgie said, sitting on the couch next to the cat and man. "Did you eat?"

"I wasn't hungry."Jon sighed.

"What's wrong?" Georgie said.

"I miss Martin's tea," Jon said.“He’s basically been making sure I eat for the last...God.” Jon laughed. "Since I met him, just about,"

“Sounds like a good friend.” Georgie said.

Jon gave a too casual shrug at that. “Good colleague. I can’t…”

“Can’t pull him into the workplace dispute?” Georgie said.

“Any more than he already is.”

"If you'd been able to, you'd have asked him first." Georgie said, looking at the Admiral instead of Jon.

"I can't ask him for anything more," Jon said. "I've... I've imposed so much on him and he didn't... we didn't have any kind of connection until I started pushing him for so much support. We'd barely established that he was not a ghost before it all went to hell again."

"Does he have grey eyes and curly hair?" Georgie said.

Jon considered. "His hair is curly, yes. I don't...I honestly don't know about his eye color."

Georgie smiled. "Would you say there was a teddy bear quality?"

"I don't know what that would be. He's..." Jon paused, blushing. "He has very broad shoulders."

"I met him," Georgie said, penny finally dropping. The confident man in the cafe was the curmudgeon staring Melanie down was Jon's tea-maker. "When Melanie--"

"Right, right."

"Very competent," Georgie said. "I was impressed."

Jon opened and closed his mouth, didn't comment. Jon's obvious crush was seemingly based on not noticing Martin's chameleon qualities. It didn't matter in any real way; Jon had deciding that the only course of action was pining from afar. The real Martin, whoever he actually was, didn't need to be discovered by any of them.


End file.
